Enfield Town manager Steve Newing believes that his side were given the perfect workout by Canvey Island when the two teams met in a hastily arranged friendly on Saturday. 

With the cold snap continuing to bite, Town’s scheduled clash at Soham Town Rangers was – along with the rest of the Ryman Division One North programme – called off because of a frozen pitch 24 hours in advance. 

And Newing reacted quickly to the expected postponement by organising a clash against Ryman Premier Division outfit Canvey on one of the all-weather playing surfaces at Barnet FC’s training ground in Edgware. 

Canvey fielded their strongest available side and led 1-0 at the interval, but two goals in as many minutes from Leon Osei – the first of which was set up by new signing Tyler Campbell – helped Town to secure a 2-2 draw. 

Newing said: “I was pretty confident the Soham game would be postponed so I’d already put in a few calls, and Canvey were the first team to come back to us. 

“It was a good exercise and enabled us to get a workout against opposition from a higher level. 

“The game was played at a fast pace and I thought that we more than matched them. 

“It was good to be able to give Leon a run-out for 90 minutes because he’s been short of game-time, and Tyler showed exactly what he is capable of when he was on the pitch in the second half. We got everything that we wanted to out of the game.” 

The improvement in the weather means that the pitch at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium should be perfectly playable in time for Saturday’s home match against Heybridge Swifts. 

Skipper Mark Kirby, Michael Bardle and Walid Matata will all be missing through suspension, but Newing believes that there is enough depth in the squad to cope with the absentees. 

“We are missing a few players, but we’ve got the squad to cope and some other people will get the chance to impress,” he said. “No one has ever been found wanting when they have come in, and they know that if they do well then they will keep their shirts. 

“We haven’t really got any injuries at the moment which is a good thing, and when everyone is available I’ll be spoilt for choice.”